Examining the impacts of tourism on economic and socio-cultural indicators of quality of life, Case Study: Ashkezar City

1. Introduction

In the present era, the concept of urban quality of life has emerged and gained attention with the aim of reforming and evolving the concept of development from mere quantitative and economic growth to sustainable urban development. The concept of quality of life encompasses both objective and subjective indicators. The purpose of this differentiation is to emphasize that an area should not be examined solely from an objective and physical perspective, but should also be considered from the viewpoint of human subjective reactions.

On the other hand, the growth and development of tourism can lead to profound changes in many objective and subjective indicators and the macroeconomic, social, cultural, and environmental characteristics of communities. The relationship between tourism and the quality of life of the local community is a subject that has been addressed in some related research, and generally, this relationship is classified into four aspects: economic, social, cultural, and environmental. As urbanization progresses rapidly worldwide, cities must evaluate their quality of life (QOL) not only to examine their infrastructure but also to keep pace with the changing perceptions of citizens regarding values and lifestyles. With this general premise, it seems that despite the growing importance of this concept in today's world, the relationship between tourism and its impacts on the level of urban citizens' quality of life remains overlooked.

Ashkezaris considered one of the main tourist destinations in the province due to the numerous historical sites it houses and its significant proximity to Yazd. In this research, we aim to identify and precisely explain the position and effects of tourism on the social-cultural and economic dimensions of the citizens, and to analyze and examine the impacts and achievements of tourism on these two aspects of the quality of life of the citizens of Ashkezar in Yazd province.

2. Research Methodology

The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical. Considering the research objectives, sampling from the statistical population was conducted using the stratified method. Initially, to identify the impact of tourism on the quality of life of the community, experts, specialists, and university professors were surveyed, and in the second phase, the residents of the city of Ashkezar were surveyed. In the first phase, since the number of tourism specialists in the city of Ashkezar was limited, the study was conducted on all present individuals, totaling 18 people. In the second phase, using Cochran's formula, the sample size of the residents of the city of Ashkezar was estimated to be 96 people.

The questionnaire questions included two sections: personal characteristics and specialized questions, consisting of 9 questions related to the "economic" aspect and 21 questions related to the "social and cultural" aspect.

To calculate the reliability of the questionnaire, the Cronbach's alpha method was used, and to determine the validity of the research questionnaire, the content validity method was employed.

Statistical analyses in this research were conducted using SPSS software and included descriptive and inferential statistical reports.

3. Results and discussion

Based on the weighted average of the indicators of each factor, it was determined that the socio-cultural factor has a higher score than the economic factor.

To conduct inferential analysis and examine the impact of tourism development on the two-dimensional quality of life; socio-cultural and economic.

First, the average of each individual's responses was taken, and then the normality of the new variable was tested, which was not confirmed based on the results. Therefore, the one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank non-parametric test was used to examine the hypothesis of this research. The results indicate that the development of tourism has a positive effect on two aspects of the quality of life: socio-cultural and economic, of the citizens of Ashkezar.

In the continuation of the research, we will examine the question of which of the two socio-cultural and economic factors have been influenced by tourism development. For this purpose, the responses of each individual to the items of both factors will be averaged, and a normality test will be conducted on the two new variables. Finally, the appropriate test will be selected to answer this question. Based on the results, the economic factor is not influenced by tourism development, but the socio-cultural factor is positively influenced by tourism development in Ashkezar.

Next, we will examine the impact of the variable "tourism development" on 30 quality of life variables in the socio-cultural and economic dimensions. Since tourism development affects various aspects of life, the Friedman test will be used to rank these aspects. The results indicate that in the economic factor, the item "increased private sector investment" ranks first, and in the socio-cultural factor, the item "improvement of urban service levels" ranks first.

4. Conclusion

Using inferential statistics, the hypothesis of the effect of "tourism development" on the "economic" factor was rejected, while it was positively confirmed on the "socio-cultural" factor.

Also, in the socio-cultural aspect, it was determined that the development of tourism in the city of Ashkezar had no impact on the increase of five indicators: "the sense of well-being among citizens," "citizens' self-confidence," "life expectancy," "the level of hygiene in public spaces of the city," and "traffic culture." This lack of impact is concerning. On the other hand, further examination of this factor revealed that "the development of tourism" in the city of Ashkezar negatively affected "the increase in the culture of cooperation," "the strengthening of cultural-social beliefs and convictions," "increased security," "reduction of begging," "the level of citizens' expectations," and "the strengthening of family relationships." In the economic factor, it was determined that "the development of tourism" in the city of Ashkezar had no impact on three indicators: "the increase in land prices," "the increase in public sector investment," and "the increase in economic welfare." Additionally, in this factor, "the development of tourism" in the city of Ashkezar negatively affected three indicators: "the increase in inflation," "the increase in production and technology levels," and "the reduction in living costs."